USF researchers find layers “up to 5 times thicker” than in August — “Oil’s presence on the ocean floor didn’t diminish with time; it grew”

At several more research stations near the wellhead, the WeatherBird II finds the ocean floor coated in similar muck. The closer the boat gets to the wellhead, the more black matter there is in the sediment. And [David Hollander, a marine geochemist at the University of South Florida] is disturbed.

The abnormal layer of sediment is up to five times thicker than it was when he collected samples here in August. The oil’s presence on the ocean floor didn’t diminish with time; it grew. And, he points out, “the layer is distributed very widely,” radiating far out from the wellhead.